The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1887-07-22
THE NEW NATURAL GAS.
SOME POINTS ABOUT THE FLUID AND
ITS USES.
Its Pressure and Its Heating Powerin
Connection with Air-Can 1t BE Stored?
THE King Well at Full BIast-Natural
Gas for Gardening.

- ASAssoS-%sesoNA@s-"
Gas for Gardening.
Especial Correspondence
MUNcIE, Ind, July Is.
This town is in the heart of the Indiana gas
regions, and while write this the flames are
bursting forth from number of tall iron
pipes in different parts of the city, and the
gas burns away because it Is cheaper TO let it
burn than to exert the effort to turn it out.
Muncie is a nice little city of perhaps 1000
people. 1t has good buildings, number of
pleasant residences and court house in pro-
cess of construction which will cost $3.50, 1000
and which makes as good show as many
government building which has cost half
million. The White river runs by the town.
and the country surrounding it is fiat. This
forty-6ve miles square OF Indiana gas terri
tory is now teeming with rich crops. Seas of
yellow grain wave in the fields along the
track of the railroad, the hay is being cut in
the meadows, and the corn grows in all the
luxuriance of Indiana's rich soil Riding in
the cars at night, one sees frefies by the tens
of thousands, and field after field is passed in
which the crops seem to be ornamented with
acres of diamonds which shine out in the
light Of these bugs phosphorescence
49,
Muncie has seven gas wells, and six OF these
are in operation Some of them, according to
the estimate of DR.. o. j. Phinney, one Of the
leading Indiana geologists, have a perpetual
flow Of several millions of cubic feet day,
and the city is now being piped by company
which will furnish it as fuel to the citizens at
one-third or one-half the cost OF coal The
main pipes used are ten inches in diameter,
and they are laid only few inches below the
surface 1t is not the intention to use the gas
for house lighting, and it will furnish Mum
cie's light only indirectly. Imean that it will
furnish the heat which runs the dynamo that
makes its electricity.
So
The electric light is, by the way, much
more extensively used in the west than in the
east. / have not stopped at one hotel, save at
Findlay, where natural gas is used, that l
have not found its Office, parlors and bed
rooms lighted by electricity. The wire loop
Edison burner is most common, and under
stand it is largely in private use in the
smaller towns In Fostoria both electricity
and natural gas light up the streets, and the
gas bursts forth from mast lights, which,
almost even with the tops of the houses, make
the streets at midnight almost light enough
for reading newspaper. Anderson, near
here, has a large supply of gas, but uses it
only for heating, and, like Muncie, it is now
laying ten inch mains throughout the town.
indianapolis has gas in large quantities
within twenty miles, and several companies
are striving to get the right to pipe it into the
city. An ordinance has been passed by the
council, am told, fixing the price to be paid
at not more than ten cents for 1000 cubic
feet. This will be much less than the cost of
coal, and the people and the manufacturing
establishments will be glad to use it The
question of piping this gas has been solved in
Pttsburg, but the piped gas is not equal to
that ut the well in pressure nor in volume.
It loses, it is estimated, five pounds of its
rressure to the mile. and irving to make gas
run down hill in these pipes Is l.6e trying to
force water up hill 1t is lighter than air,
and the force of its gravity is in the opposite
direction. Senator Sherman says it cannot
be piped over forty miles without pumping,
and Governor Foster tells me that the gas
begins to expand the moment it leaves the
rocks, SO that cubic inch of rock cavity may
hold hundreds Of cubic feet of gas.
Xxx
1t is impossible to appreciate the force of
this gas without having seen it. Here in IN
diana it rushes out Of the walls under pres
sure of $50 pounds to the square inch, and a big
well like the Karg well at Findlay roars like
Niagara falls gone mad. The gas is strongly
with sulphur, and it smells
like rotten eggs or sulphuretted hydrogen
gas. 1t is cold as it rllshes upwards through
the pipes. and the force of a big well is such
that if you pound upon the gas stream with
an iron sledge it will hurl it into the air and
you cannot hit the top of the pipe. At Findlay
/ saw the Karg well lighted, and I was told
that number Of engines were being run by
it at the same time. A pipe perhaps four
inches in diameter was run from the well
along the Blanchard river, and so arranged
that its end was pointed at the edge of and
about four or five feet above the water The
gas was turned on lightly at first, and a
match was put to it. 1t blazed up like bon
fire hanging over the water, and turned the
urroundings into those of gentle moonlight
night. Then more was turned on and the fame
tt was again turned Oh and thegas
came out with terrible roar, throwing q con-
tinuous volume of fame thirty or forty feet
long over the water and making itso hot that
great sheets of steam rose from the fast run
ming water below. At full blast the gas
shook the heavy iron pipe, and the air was SO
hot within thirty feet around as to be almost
uncomfortable Blocks OF wood and stone
thrown into it were carried away out into
the water. and the force of the gas was SO
strong that there was no fire at all within
five feet Of the mouth of the pipe. The end
of the pipe was probably cold, and the rush
of gas blew the fire away into the great hiss
ing sheet of blue and yellow flame beyond.
This fame was steady, and the terrible noise
of its blast lasted as long as the gas was al
lowed to burn. When the directions were
given to turn it of the wrench of screw,
which moved SO gently that boy could oper-
ate 1t, put it out
*F*
Here at Muncie, in company with Mr.. Fred
Heath, prominent business man of the
town, saw one of the smaller wells opened,
and the gas in this case made such noise in
rushing upwards as to be almost deafening.
It looked blue at the end of the pipe and
when put my hand in the current found
it like ice. took an iron wrench and strove
to hit the top of the pipe, but the gas stream
threw my wrench into the air and felt as
though was pounding India rubber when
struck the current
M*a
in the use of this gas for fuel, the air burnt
makes q large part of the heating power.
Here at Muncie / visited one Of the largest
Of fax bagging in the United
States and had chat with the manager, who
is an Irishman from Belfast. This bagging is
used for the baling Of cotton, and there are,
think, but four such establishments of any
size in the United States.
ALI the half dozen and more manufacturing
here are now run by gas, and
this institution began its use only last Feb
ruary. 1t is success.
A*A
Muncie has, ann told here, the only skewer
factory in the world. This establishment |
makes the woouen pAiiS Wnlch butchers use
o stick their beefsteaks and lamb roasts to-
ether, and it sells it's product in Europe as
veil as in America.
I had chat with Mr.. N. C. Mccullough,
L Anderson, in regard to his big well there,
which he says, by actual test, has been
,roven equal to the Karg well at Findlay. /
aw the well. The gas had been shut Off and
VI overcoat had been thrown over the valve to